The Bike Coalition awarded the City of Chula Vista, TREK, REI, Monique Lopez and Mike Samyn for 2015 bike achievements
The San Diego County Bike Coalition, an organization that advocates for and protects the rights of all people who ride bicycles, hit the streets with winter cheer during the Holiday Joy Ride on Thursday, December 10.
The fifth-annual family-friendly ride began at in Balboa Park at Panama 66. Riders wore festive costumes and rode bicycles strung with Christmas lights and wrapped like presents through the park and around Hillcrest and back.
The brightly lit ride returned to Panama 66 for a joyful celebration recapping top bicycle achievements of 2015 and honoring local recipients of the Bike Coalition’s Golden Gear Awards which recognizes those who went above and beyond to make San Diego bicycle friendly in the past year.
Executive director Andy Hanshaw gave a recap of Coalition achievements and presented the 2015 Golden Gear award winners.
- Volunteer of the Year: Mike Samyn, SDCBC Board member and Alpine resident, for being the first to show up and the last to go home with admirable enthusiasm and passion for everything bikes
- Advocate of the Year: Monique Lopez, Environmental Health Coalition Policy Advocate and South Park resident, for her tireless dedication and community involvement to improve bike safety and accessibility in the region for all people, particularly urban communities south of the I-8 freeway .
- Public Partner of the Year: The City of Chula Vista for making groundbreaking improvements to the city’s infrastructure and implementing its first Safe Routes to School program to encourage children to walk and pedal to school.
- Community Partner of the Year: REI Bicycles for its commitment to the outdoors and supporting bicycling organizations and eventsREI is also a founding sponsor of the Bike Coalition’s annual ride across the Coronado-San Diego bridge, Bike the Bay.
- Bike-Friendly Business of the Year: Trek Bicycle Super Store for its dedication nationwide to supporting bicycling and locally supporting the Bike Coaltion. The TREK Bicycle Super Store in San Diego is the company’s largest dealer in the country.
We would like to thank all who attended and all our generous sponsors and our Golden Gear Award winners of 2015. See you at the 2016 Joy Ride!
